No Legitimacy But the Legitimacy of the Rocket

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

With the appearance of a new prime minister for the Palestinian self-rule authority in Ramallah, some raise the question of Palestinian legitimacy, and ask about the role of the Palestinian Legislative Council in granting confidence to the cabinet.

After the June 1967 war, the Palestinian factions began speaking of the legitimacy of the rifle, on the grounds that fighting against Israel was the source of legitimacy, and that there was no legitimacy but it — this in reference to the Liberation Organization, which was established in 1964 without a revolutionary combat pedigree. The Organization itself then became the source of legitimacy because it became an umbrella for the various fighting Palestinian factions, and subsequently gained Arab recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the United Nations recognized it as an observer member of the General Assembly.

The Oslo agreement and the agreements that followed it came to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization and turn it into mere structures empty of content, used only when the self-rule authority sees a need to use it in internal Palestinian squabbles. The agreements with Israel pushed the rifle aside as a source of legitimacy, and the new authority that emerged from these agreements became an enemy of the rebellious rifle, and the bearer of the Israeli-licensed rifle.

The agreements with Israel decided that elections would be the source of legitimacy, on condition that the results of the elections reflect the requirements of the Oslo, Taba, and Paris accords, etc. This is why the Western states, Israel, and the followers of the agreements with Israel worked to reject the results of the 2006 elections, which led to Palestinian infighting.

The legitimacy of elections is not real legitimacy but a counterfeit one, because it emanates from the will of the enemy, and because it is confined to the West Bank and Gaza alone, excluding the Palestinian people across the full breadth of where they are present. And if we were to accept its legitimacy, for argument’s sake, the matter would stand as follows:

The president of the Oslo authority is not legitimate, because his term of presidency ended in 2009. He decided to extend his term until January 2010, after which he was to leave his position — and I wrote at the time that he would not dare leave his position, and now the year 2013 has come and he is still in his position.

The prime minister, regardless of who he is personally, is not legitimate because he needs the confidence of the Legislative Council.

The Legislative Council itself is not legitimate because its term has ended.

The councils of the Liberation Organization are not legitimate because they violate the internal bylaws by which each council is supposed to operate.

So where, then, is legitimacy? Palestine is still occupied, the occupation sits heavily upon our chests, it is master over a large part of us, and our own apparatuses function as its security and administrative agent. There is no legitimacy for anyone but the rocket.

The Palestinian rocket, which Palestinian hands develop or smuggle in and use to confront the enemy, is the sole source of legitimacy, and nothing represents the Palestinian people, at home and abroad, but this rocket. Everyone who claims legitimacy outside the umbrella of this rocket only wants to justify their services to the Zionist enemy so that it may tighten its grip on our necks further. The rocket is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and it is incumbent upon us to rally around it to give the Palestinian resistance momentum, support, and strength.

On the anniversary of the shameful June defeat, we must renew the covenant, and remain clutching the burning coal, bearing all the sacrifices necessary to restore our rights and the return of our people.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “لا شرعية إلا شرعية الصاروخ” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.